As Licensees who have provided banking services in our communities for years, at well below our direct costs, you probably joined with Australia Post's CEO to feel very excited, and relieved, about the commitment made by 3 of the BIG 4, CBA, NAB and Westpac to finally help remunerate us for this service to our shared customers.

As Licensees who must absorb the underfunded tasks in our LPOs, we know only too well that bank@post is most often a loss leader for us. So it is simply astonishing business from the ANZ, that they feel hardly done by, being asked to contribute in equal measures with the Big 3, so we can be paid fairly for the bank@post work we have been providing for years for our communities!

LPOG is delighted to announce that Nicole Sheffield, our brand new EGM, will be pleased to join us for our get together from 1.30 pm onwards, prior to the official AGM starting at 3.pm, on the 27th October 2018.

Nicole may also be able to bring her Boss, if all the Diary scheduling allows.

This is a great opportunity for anyone who is planning on attending the AGM, to come and listen to Nicole, and put up your questions. She is a very down to earth, real person, who is about as far from her predecessor as you could hope for.

And SHAME SHAME SHAME, ANZ SHAME, has refused to sign up with the BIG 3 to support the network, citing their customers don't need bank@post, on average they only need to travel 20 Kms or so to find a Branch!

If you bank with ANZ, time to move to a bank that supports you - which is not the ANZ!

Finally bank customers might start to look as financially appealing as online shoppers collecting their parcels in our LPOs, with news just released by Australia Post of a deal with the CBA to increase our payments for providing this service.

This will help many struggling LPOs, when combined with a few more increases that are sitting in the pipeline. For now, this is a well deserved thanks to Christine Holgate, Australia Post's CEO, for delivering much needed financial improvements to the LPO network.

For the past 18 months, LPOG has been harbouring a belief that financial salvation for LPOs was just over the horizon, and we would be seeing it coming over the hill any week now. We have seen the departure of many members of the Executive team of Australia Post, and their Board, who seemed totally unaware of the value LPOs bring to the business overall. We all rightly felt that this would provide our much needed relief, and a restoration of a much more equitable payment arrangement for the work we provide for Australia Post. LPOG was invited to participate in the long awaited payment review, and entered this working group with a great deal of anticipation for a successful outcome for our members, and other Licensees who share in the benefits we can extract. While the project is apparently ongoing, it is not looking like the panacea that we needed. Currently it is looking more like a project to shuffle the deck chairs on the Titanic. LPOG will continue to participate in this project, but it seems like it is going to be a long hard slog to achieve what needs to be achieved.

So it is with heavy hearts that we must acknowledge, the July 2018 1.9% CPI increases for the ever diminishing agency payments, combined with the annual 3.5% GRIA increase for our wages, 3-5% rent increases, and utilities and many other cost increases, has highlighted the fast way back to our insolvency issues. We had been so looking forward to putting all that behind us with our new look CEO.

First up at 8.30 am the ANZ, incredible to hear they consider an Australis Post License as an accredited franchise. This is the bank who has defaulted on more LPO Licensees than any other known bank. And their answer is "NO" in most cases.